I was in a coffee shop once, when a guy with a very obvious hairpiece came in. He had natural, thick brown hair around his ears, with a jet black wig on top. Of course, no one mentioned it to him. People just smirked when he wasn’t looking. Whether this chap needed the hairpiece for vanity or medical reasons, it’s entirely possible he has no idea that his wig is so poorly matched to his natural hair.

A very similar kind of silence happens regularly in business. And it can lose you a fortune.

Allow me to explain.

We go to a website to check out a potential service provider, find the site is amateurish and decide not to consider them. We don’t call them to let them know their site created such a bad impression. We silently move on.

We start reading a poorly-written piece of marketing and quickly discard it. We don’t email the company and tell them their content is losing them business. We silently move on.

So, faced with all this silence, how do you figure out if what you’re doing is working for you? Simple. You ‘listen’ to what your results are telling you.

For example.

Your website should be a 24-hour, business generating machine. If it isn’t, it’s telling you something. It’s telling you that it urgently needs to be improved.

Your content marketing should regularly attract sales, sales leads or new clients. If it isn’t, it’s telling you something. It’s telling you that you need to quickly improve your strategy.

So start listening

Don’t wait for someone to tell you your marketing sucks. Because they won’t; your friends don’t want to upset you and strangers don’t give a rat’s ass. Instead, listen to what your results are telling you.

People often ask me for tips on how to build a bigger list. They want more subscribers; more readers, more listeners, more viewers, more followers, etc.

The short answer is simple. It’s this.

Do something useful, which is worthy of people’s attention and make it easy for them to subscribe.

If you do that, you’ll attract more people and because your “something” is useful, many of them will subscribe. Think about it. That’s the exact process, which motivated you to subscribe to every list you’re on. Something attracted you, you found it useful, you subscribed.

This begs the question – If the answer is so simple, why is it so darn hard to build a large and valuable list?

Here’s the answer.

The advice is simple. The process is tricky!

There’s some tricky stuff between you and that massively valuable list you want.

Finding something useful to share, on a regular basis, is tricky. Remember, if you just churn out the same stuff as others in your industry, you won’t attract subscribers or retain them. This means you’ll need to be willing to do some research. You’ll need to become a regular note-taker. A collector of ideas. It’s interesting work, but if you’re not already someone who studies and takes notes, it can be a tricky transition.

Finding the time to create content is also tricky. You’re already busy, right? Developing content around all that interesting material you have, takes time. That time is easy to justify when you have a huge list. It’s harder to justify, when your hard work is being consumed by just a small number of people. You’ll need to push through the tumbleweed and crickets of the early stages. And I know from personal experience, that can be a real challenge. [I explain why here].

Summoning the courage to publish your stuff is tricky. Why? Because if you do it right, you’ll attract critics. Someone once told me that we have a choice to make. We can either be criticized or be ignored. If we’re being ignored, we’re invisible. That’s not good for any business. The alternative is to not only expect criticism, but to welcome it as a positive sign that we’re no longer being ignored. Don’t set out to attract critics. Set out to be useful and worthy of attention. But see criticism as an inevitable part of becoming visible. Tip: Here’s why people criticize you and how to deal with it.

Once you know what’s involved, building a valuable list is pretty easy. And the rewards are huge.

Picture this: Just imagine what a difference it would make to your business, if you were in regular contact with thousands of prospective customers. Not via advertising, which is usually seen as an unwelcome interruption. But via a subscription to your content, which people proactively requested because they WANT to hear from you.

The opportunity is amazing. And it’s right in front of you. Right now.

If not, I suggest you give it a try. Lists are perfect for sharing, which makes them ideal if you want to expand your reach on social networks. New readers who discover your work through list content, will then get the chance to see your more detailed work. Others will follow you on the networks, where they see your lists shared. Almost all of my most shared blog posts are lists. This list-based page has been shared over 50 thousand times.

Lists can also be very powerful, when it comes to increasing your email marketing open rates. Email marketing that has a list in the subject line, can result in massively increased open rates.

Here’s why.

Most small business owners are not expert copywriters. As such, the subject lines they use for their email marketing tend to under-perform. And poorly written subject lines result in low open rates. This means no matter how good their marketing message is, very few people will see it.

Using an average list title as the subject line of a marketing email, will always out-perform an average, regular subject line.

So, Should I focus exclusively on lists, Jim?

No. No you shouldn’t. Seriously. Don’t!

Allow me to explain.

True, there are YouTubers making a fortune from creating only list-based videos. And yes, there are sites that attract millions of readers, who rely very heavily on list-based content. However, relying exclusively on lists is a bad fit for most small business owners. They should be used sparingly.

For example, I could have written this post as a list.

It would have taken me half as long to write.

It would have been shared a lot more on social networks.

And the email version of the post would have been opened by a lot more people.

However, I wanted to dig a little deeper into one thing… the marketing effectiveness of lists. I didn’t want to weaken that focus with “15 Reasons why lists dominate the internet”.

Here’s the thing: Sometimes, you need to offer more substance around one subject. Other times, an issue could be impacting your readers and you need to address it. And there are times when you want to share one really useful idea, which wouldn’t work if you broke it down into a list of sub-ideas. In other words, that same surface-level approach that makes lists so popular, renders them useless for anything that requires depth.

So mix it up.

Test and measure

If you haven’t already used list-based blog posts, articles, videos, podcasts or newsletters, give it a go. Experiment. Test different types of list. Measure the feedback. Check things (metrics) including; sales, leads, open rates, social shares and new subscribers.

In short, if you’re not embracing list-based content, you’re missing out on a huge opportunity.

It’s becoming harder and harder to sell the average product or service.

Why?

Because when something is average, the lowest price wins. And there will always be someone lower priced than you. Plus, your prospective customers can find these lower priced alternatives, on Google or Amazon, in seconds.

There are only two, proven ways to build your business today. Here they are.

Option one

You can decide to try to cut your costs back to the bone and undercut the competition. Lower prices attract attention. Lower prices get people talking. Average products or services do neither.

And if you can get the efficiency savings right, with a significant increase in sales, you can make a very nice profit. This guy sold a UK retail outlet where everything cost just £1, for £50,000,000.

Option two

Alternatively, you can decide to turn your back on average. There are more, wealthy customers out there than ever before. And they want to be treated differently. They’ll very happily pay for that premium difference, too.

Either aim for low profit, high turnover or aim to be a premium provider. Then market your business accordingly. Don’t position yourself somewhere between the two. Because it has never been harder to succeed in the middle-ground, than it is today.

Because everyone has problems. And nobody wants them. That includes your prospective clients. What they want (and need) are answers. They want to get unstuck. They want to free themselves from frustration. And this is extremely important to them.

In short, your prospective clients are highly motivated to get their problems solved.

Okay. I need you to hold that thought for a moment.

Now let’s look at the service you provide

Your service is the answer to a problem. Or a series of problems. How do I know this? Simple: Every service provider is a problem solver.

So, I’d like you to answer a question: When was the last time you asked people to bring you their problems?

Sure, every service provider markets the services they provide. They have them listed on their websites, they mention them when they speak with prospective clients, they may even mention them in a newsletter, blog, vlog, podcast or on social networks, etc.

But that wasn’t what I was asking.

My question was a lot more literal than that. So, in very literal terms, when was the last time you used these four words [bring me your problems] in your marketing?

Bring me your problems is a powerful, direct request. It bypasses all the hoopla. It cuts to the chase. This is especially the case when it features prominently, in the right place.

Here’s how it works

It looks a lot like this.

Your prospective client has a problem.

She finds your website (or any of your marketing assets).

She can see that the services you provide are related to her problem.

She then sees a direct request, to bring you her problems.

Boom!

No one said that powerful marketing needed to be complicated.

Oh, and if you found this useful, feel free to share it with your friends.

There’s a very common mindset among small business owners. It’s the entitlement mindset. And almost NO small business owner is aware of it, until it’s explained to them. That’s what this post is about, along with lots of ideas for how to put things right.

What does the entitlement mindset look like?

The mindset tells the small business owner that they’re entitled to success. They think they can be average, yet still succeed. They believe they can just keep on doing the same ineffective stuff, and over time, things will “somehow” just improve.

It’s little wonder the vast majority of small business owners fail, and the vast majority that survive are going nowhere. Spinning their wheels. Waiting for the break they never earned, to arrive.

The wake-up call of our age is this: We’re not entitled to anything! We have to earn it. And that includes the attention of our prospective clients. They call it paying attention for a reason.

You don’t own anyone’s attention. It’s borrowed. You have to earn it. Then re-earn it.

As this blog approaches it’s 10th birthday, this is something I’m focusing on a great deal. If I decide to commit to an 11th year, I will also need to commit to digging deep, to find ways to re-earn your attention. Again and again. That means I need to be as useful as possible to you. Knowing that if I fail to be worthy of your attention, you’ll take your attention back.

In other words, your attention is not something I am entitled to.

Okay. [Imagine dramatic music in the background] Now the bad news!

The same is true of your marketing

Sorry. But if your marketing fails to offer something worthy of your prospective client’s attention, they’ll take it elsewhere. You only have their attention on loan. And if you lose their attention, you’ll also have lost the opportunity to do business with them. You can’t afford that. It’s low leverage. It’s unsustainable.

In short, once you’ve earned the attention of a prospective client, it makes way more sense to work on retaining it. This is how you build a spectacularly valuable communication channel with them.

So share ideas, stories and suggestions with your prospective clients, which THEY will find useful. 99.9% of small business marketing doesn’t do this. It’s self-serving, from the entitlement mindset. It doesn’t attract attention and it certainly doesn’t re-earn attention. It’s usually a dull series of thinly disguised sales pitches and special offers.

They think they are entitled to the attention of people, when in reality, they’re not entitled to shit!

A quick look at the way things were

Old school marketing was all about interrupting people. It was about sales pitches. It was about big brands paying fortunes to get their ad in front of you while you were trying to watch TV or listen to the radio. The huge problem with that model, was that you had to start from scratch every time. It was expensive. Really expensive. This put it beyond the reach of small businesses. However, it was the backbone of the highly lucrative advertising industry for over a century.

The anti entitlement mindset alternative

Focus on what matters to your prospective clients. Then, use your marketing to share useful ideas with them. Here are just a few suggestions.

Show them how your product / service can save them money.

Show them how your product / service can save them time.

Show them how your product / service can help them attract more customers.

Show them how your product / service can make their life easier, less stressful or both.

Give them useful industry insights.

Give them useful tips, which have worked for others in their industry (or situation).

This model turns your marketing into a valuable asset for your marketplace. Guess what? That’s the kind of marketing that people share and talk about. It’s the kind of marketing that builds trust and generates sales. It’s an anti-entitlement approach to marketing.

It’s also the kind of marketing you need to embrace.

Why?

Because pushing sales pitches at prospective clients, who are already suffering from information overload, is less and less effective.

And unlike the past, your prospective clients have technology today that lets them block you, filter you from their inbox or unsubscribe from you.

What about marketing to your existing clients?

You’re not entitled to the repeat business of an existing client or customer, either. You need to re-earn it, again and again. So a similar, them-focused approach is required. Only this time, create marketing that’s useful for your clients, which includes (but isn’t limited to) how to get more from your products or services.

Apple provides us with a world-class example of how to do this right. Their dedicated Apple Support YouTube channel doesn’t sell stuff. Instead, it adds value to the Apple products you already own. This makes you more inclined to stay with their brand.

Here’s why this works so well.

Let’s assume you’re an iPhone user. When you fully understand how your iPhone works, via those helpful videos, you’ll get more value from it. This makes it massively more likely your next tablet will be an iPad, (which uses the exact same operating system). And with an iPhone and iPad, the Apple Watch makes more sense than buying a different, less compatible brand.

Can you see what Apple are doing? They’re marketing to existing customers, sharing useful information, because they know they’re not entitled to the repeat business of their customers.

Apple are the most valuable company on the planet. However, unlike the average small business owner, Apple does not have an entitlement mindset.

In summary

Your business and mine share one thing in common, my friend. Neither of them are entitled to anything. It’s when we accept this reality, that our mindset to marketing shifts from entitlement to earned attention. And when that shift happens, it manifests itself with a totally different approach to marketing.

So get out there and contribute to your marketplace. Bring radical value. Be as useful as you can as often as you can. And take absolutely nothing for granted.